Stanford Debuts Online Communication Course for K-12 Teachers

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 07/19/16

Stanford University's Graduate School of Education has unveiled a new online course, Effective Conversation in the Classroom, designed to help K-12 educators learn to create rich and meaningful conversations in their classrooms.

"Each session includes expert video screencasts, classroom video clips, readings and resources and assignments that will help participants create a strong foundation of communication within the classroom," according to a news release. "The course has been developed by Understanding Language/SCALE, a Stanford research and practice center focused on K-12 language and performance assessment. The teaching team consists of Stanford Professor Emeritus Kenji Hakuta, Senior Researcher Dr. Jeff Zwiers and Lecturer Dr. Sara Rutherford-Quach."

"Speaking, listening and conversation among students are valuable ways to help students think critically and communicate effectively," said Hakuta in a prepared statement. "Yet meaningful peer to peer interaction is actually somewhat rare in the classroom. Effective Conversation in the Classroom will strengthen educators' ability to meet the new language demands and improve student learning."

Educators interested in the three-week course can attend a free webinar July 20 on the importance of productive communication and approaches to guiding effective discourse.